AMN
Indian Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar has said that modernization of forces is very important for the government. He said that for this contracts of Rs 1 lakh 20 thousand crore have been signed during the 21 months of the NDA government and contracts for about 32 thousand crore rupees are in the process of final approval.
Briefing media in New Delhi, Mr Parrikar said Rs 70 thousand crore has been allocated in this year’s budget for defence acquisition.
To a query on the purchase of Rafale fighter jets, which has been stuck over price negotiations with France, Mr Parrikar said, the government had kept adequate money for Rafale deal. The Minister said, he is a tough negotiator and money must be saved for the nation. Asked about large sums to be spent on salaries and pensions in the wake of expected decision on the Seventh Pay Commission, Mr Parrikar said the expenditure is inevitable.
However, he said the government is keen on rationalising the strength of the Army through a process undertaken by the Army itself. On the question of recommendations of the Seventh Pay Commission, Mr Parrikar said necessary steps would be taken by the ministry after discussions over the next two-three weeks. He said it was for the first time that the Defence Ministry took stock of military sales through an account held by the US government and found that due to ill-management of this account, slightly less than 3 billion dollars piled up.
He said, after reviewing it, the Ministry recalibrated it and it has come down from about 3 billion to 1.8 billlon dollars. He said 6 thousand crore has been paid last year to the US for direct military sales and the ministry had saved money from its budget allocations. He said, Ministry has saved 700 to 800 million dollars of foreign exchange adding that the ministry had been able to save about 3 thousand crore rupees more through other measures.